5 Tools to Help You Embrace Change

Experiencing a change can cause us to wonder if we have the capacity to handle change. Can we handle the unknown or a new experience? Change is an opportunity to utilize a positive mindset and look forward to something new and different.

Here are a 5 tools to help you towards positive change:

1. Patience with yourself - Experiencing a change allows us to take a pause and assess what is going on in our life. We can give ourselves permission to slow down and practice patience in a new situation. Give yourself grace to experience something new. It takes time to adjust and become used to a new job, new move, or even a new family member.

2. Vulnerability with others - Going through a change with someone else allows us to be vulnerable to our needs and the needs of others. Opening up to someone else is a great way to learn more about what we are capable of and where we can improve emotionally. Communicating what you need and how you feel can help others better understand how you feel about change.

3. Mistakes that are forgiven - Change is not perfect, so learning from mistakes and new experiences is a great way to expand our skillset, build confidence and practice grace toward ourselves and others. By realizing you expect to make mistakes, you make the standard for yourself much more attainable and less daunting. Making mistakes is a major part of growth and growth mindset. Without mistakes many inventions and things we use everyday would not even exist.

4. Aim for progress, not perfection - It is important to try, make an effort and learn. Knowing that perfect does not exist, can help you be more open minded to trying new positive things. Always try to make progress and know that you are aiming for a realistic goal. Nothing will ever be perfect, and that is completely fine.

5. Stay in the moment - Be present with yourself and try to enjoy the process. Understanding that every ending has a new beginning, is a beautiful thing. Not every day is the same, and even in challenging times we can find things to be grateful for. Find something to always be thankful for.

Every new change is a chance to grow, to learn about ourselves and those around us. If we are open to new possibilities we have the potential to become a better version of ourselves. This is exactly what we need to aim for, be kind to yourself and you will get there.

How Therapists Believe Change is Positive

Every ending has a new beginning. Change does have a bad reputation but change can actually be the introduction to a new chapter. Without change we would be stuck in a constant loop of the sameness, this could feel draining and boring. The only constant in life is change.

Here are some ways change can be positive:

1. Change gives you a new perspective - A new way of completing a task, a different job or moving to a new city are all opportunities for you to figure out how new circumstances play into the values and morals of your life. This is a great way to see what is important to you and helps you to evaluate how change can play into your existing lifestyle, thought patterns and even life goals.

2. Change can help you learn to be flexible - It is easy to fall into set patterns and a routine, but change allows you to become open to new ways of thinking. One small change can open your mind to make changes in other areas of your life.

3. Change can improve your attitude - Sometimes, a change can be just the thing you need to get out of a rut and improve your outlook on life.

4. Change can help you grow - Accepting change is not always easy, but learning to deal with change can help you grow. This in turn can make change become easier to accept and to build confidence in your ability to try something new.

5. Change allows you to reflect on progress - When a change is presented to you, it is a chance to reflect on the past and become excited about the future. Thinking ahead to what you can accomplish when a change is introduced to you is a chance to become renewed by the potential awaiting you.

Change can be a rewarding and exciting experience if we open up our minds to the positive possibilities. Thinking of change as a new opportunity to expand your thinking will help you to look at change in a positive way.

Therapists Agree, You Can Make Change Happen

Routines are hard to maintain. They are healthy because they keep us organized and help us maintain some sense of normalcy. But what happens when there is a glitch in our routine? What happens when we have to make a change?

Now, change can be a very broad term. We can change many things like the color of our hair, the clothes we wear, the way we act or even the way we think.

Each form of change comes with one common factor: the unknown.

Every time we make a change we take a risk, no matter how small or how noticeable this change may be. The changes that are the hardest to make though are those that come from within, rather than those that appear on the outside. Working to make an inner change is hard and it is completely normal to not know where to start or how to go about it.

Let’s talk about some examples of what making an inner change looks like.

It is healthy for us to notice our negative qualities and want to adjust them.

A bad trait we sometimes have is addressing ourselves with a negative tone. By this I mean you wake up in the morning, get ready for work, walk past a mirror and think “yikes” to yourself as you walk out the door because you’ve had better hair days before and today was just not cutting it.

We can start by taking baby steps toward the changes we wish to make that will create an overall happier version of ourselves.

Step 1: Identify the problem. What is causing you to be upset? When you go through your daily routine, take note of the things that make your day better and of the things that make you feel uncomfortable. By identifying the underlying causes of our feelings and insecurities, it becomes easier to change these behaviors slowly over time.

Step 2: Create a plan to make things better. If you notice every day you do happen to be that person that tells yourself you don’t look that great when you walk out the door in the morning, make it a priority to find something about you that you DO like. Look at yourself and find one thing to compliment. This will help build self-esteem and help us realize that no one is perfect so we must love our imperfections.

Step 3: Surround yourself with support. If you feel uncomfortable around a group of people, you feel like they are not good for your mental health, find a way to fix it. This does not always mean kicking people out of your life or cutting them off but, instead, try to find other grounds to talk about, other common factors. Learn to listen, rather than talk for a more positive outcome.

Step 4: Maintain a routine. Once we have identified the things we wish to change and come up with a plan to enact this change within our daily lives, we must find a way to keep the positivity prevalent.

As I’ve said before, being human is hard. It is not always easy to know right from wrong. It is not always clear what steps we should take to make ourselves feel happier. Change is ultimately inevitable. So, if we can learn how to maintain a sense of normalcy while going through a change that we decide on, it will make it easier to cope with the changes in our lives that are out of our control.